Rereading the image of women in the works of Hossein Gholi Mosta'ān from the Perspective of Gender Equality

Authors
Mohammad Shadrooymanesh
Reza Gilaki
KHU
Abstract
Hossein Gholi Mosta'ān is the most prolific serial story/feuilleton writer in Irān. Most of Mosta'ān's stories have a love theme and a social perspective. These stories often have a central female character who is trapped in a burning love. Destiny takes its course. The society of Irān, which underwent extensive cultural changes during the Reza Shah period, is passing, causing Hossein Gholi Mosta'ān to worry. He considers these changes to be destructive for the society. His works try to provoke the audience, by showing the attraction of lust and the sinister destruction that follows, not to be deceived by the glamor of pseudo-modern society. Mosta'ān, in an empathetic stance with women, tries to save a society drowning in social corruption. But this sympathetic effort has gendered and sexualized language full of stereotypes. In this article, Mosta'ān's works will be analyzed from the perspective of egalitarian movements. In this article, concepts such as honor, fashionable society and women will be examined using library resources with a descriptive-analytical approach. The findings of the present study show that Mosta'ān's main concern is the fight against moral corruption and the prevalence of lust in society. Analyses reveal that the portrayal of women in Mosta'ān's works is limited to two types: heroines and deceived women. This duality reflects the author's stereotypical and patriarchal view of the "othering" of women. Overall, the findings of this research emphasize that Mosta'ān positions women in the subordinate role of the "Other," perceiving them merely as the "second sex" within a culture of honor. This approach fundamentally contradicts the theoretical foundations of feminism and the goals of egalitarian movements which advocate for the rejection of gender stereotypes and the achievement of full gender equality.


Keywords
the image of women in fiction
Hossein-gholi Mosta'ān
the second gender
serial story
press
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